Nissan pulls the plug on EVs
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It seems some car manufacturers haven't seen "Who Killed the Electric Car?" yet, or don't understand some of the negative backlash it might create. The city of Pasadena, Ca, made substantial investments in electric and hybrid cars, trucks and buses, and the infrastructure to support them in the late nineties, in order to reduce air pollution filling the streets. Many city employees have been driving around town in battery-powered cars, with electric charging stations available throughout the city. Now Nissan has decided to pull the 11 Nissan Hypermini EVs the city was leasing. While the city of Pasadena did offer to buy the cars, Nissan wouldn't sell the cars. According to Nissan, the leases were always temporary, part of a research program which was extended well beyond its intended lifetime. The city is not only interested in keeping the cars out of idealism or politics; the EVs operate at one third the cost of gasoline powered vehicles.
[Source: Pasadena Star]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
landon brenne 8:13PM (8/03/2006)
I didn't see "Who Killed the Electric Car?" so there may be an answer to my question but, why on Earth would Nissan not sell these cars to the city? Come on there not going to do you any good sitting around a landfill, at least try to make a few bucks off of them.
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lavardera 10:47AM (8/04/2006)
City council just needs to pass a law making ending the contract for ev's illegal and force Nissan to leave it in place, abandon the cars, or buy out for a reasonable cost. Its preposterous I know, but worse has been done in Washington, and what the heck - they have 2/3s the cost of operating gas vehicles to spend in court defending the action.
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prattacus 11:22AM (8/04/2006)
Steal them.
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John P. Hedin aka DrSmart 11:28AM (8/04/2006)
They probably cost more than $50,000=each to make. No one would pay the actual cost of these cars and many of them do not meet all applicable DOT reg's. The Ford Th!nk City cars had a special exemption to be imported and the batteries had to be "equalized every 2,000 miles. The mechanical complexity of an electric car is unknown to the motoring public. As another example-with the Ford Th!nk Neighbor-if you let the battery pack get discharged-guess what-you needed to buy a whole new set of batteries to the tune of more than $1,000, Face it-the electric car committed SUICIDE.
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Mark_H 1:06PM (8/04/2006)
I have no problem believing that they did cost in excess of $50,000 to make, but once they are built then those are sunk costs. At least if Nissan had sold the cars to the city of Pasadena they would have received a little more money for this venture, and they could have worked with the city to monitor the ongoing reliability of the vehicles. They might have learned something. Now, I assume, they'll be junked, which seems pointless.
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Charles S 1:14PM (8/04/2006)
"Face it-the electric car committed SUICIDE."
I have to ask: Does Th!nk represent EVERY single EV ever made? If one has a bad experience with a Ford Pinto, does that mean that all gasoline cars are terrible?
For the specific problem with discharges and batteries, today's reliability of hybrids is proof that current technology can handle various demands placed on the batteries.
EVs are not necessary "more complex" but rather, needs monitoring of the batteries. With today's technology, the on-board computers has really done a great job in keeping batteries operational longer.
Petro-based cars in the last few decades are ancient compare to the advances of today's engines. If only EV get the investment in research and standardizations, all the various problems in the past will not be a problem today.
People can be pessimistic about EV all they want, but EV has certain advantages above all others, and with refinements, the old negative stereotypes will no longer apply.
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